What follows is the FAQ which was, when the list was located at
majordomo@virginia edu, regularly sent to new subscribers as a welcome
message and which by now should again be being sent to new subscribers from
the new site. There are only minimal changes in this version from that
which was last posted from the site at virginia.edu, but these changes are
worth noting carefully:

*1. The statements on the Purpose of the list and on the B-Greek community
define more precisely than hitherto the focus of appropriate
list-discussion in this forum and reflect what we have learned from our
survey of list-members last fall as well as what we recognize as the
fundamental achievement of David Marotta in his original establishment of
this discussion list.

*2. The statement on the "Reply" function of the Lyris list-maintenance
software now being used. It is important that subscribers be well aware of
the fact that the automatic reply to a post will go directly to the list,
NOT to the original sender privately. This is worth repeating, so I'll lift
that section out of the document and repeat it here:

--------------------------
2. "Reply" function of mailing programs

The software used by the B-Greek list automatically formats replies to go
to the list. If you wish to respond directly and off-list to the sender of
a message, be careful to copy that person's e-address into the TO: line in
your reply message header. Please be careful in this regard; neglect of it
may result in an embarrassing distribution of what you meant to be a
private message to the whole list.
--------------------------

1. Purpose: B-Greek is a mailing list designed to foster
communication concerning the scholarly study of the Greek Bible and related
Jewish and Christian Greek texts. This list serves as a forum for
discussing matters of concern to beginning and advanced students of
Biblical Greek such as textbooks, reference works, bibliography and
research tools, as well as the grammar and syntax of Biblical Greek itself.
The fundamental focus of list discussion, however, is understanding the
Greek text of the Bible. Anyone interested in the Greek New Testament is
invited to subscribe, but the list will assume at least a working knowledge
of Biblical Greek.

2. The B-Greek Community: B-Greek was started by David Marotta at the
Center for Christian Study, an independent Christian ministry at the
University of Virginia. In 1998, David asked to step down as list owner. We
are grateful to David for his vision of a forum where the Greek text and
language of the Bible are discussed in detail by an eclectic group of
beginning students and veteran teachers, laymen and clergy, conservatives
and liberals, earnest inquirers and academic scholars - all equally
committed to probing the Biblical text in the original Koine, and jointly
exploring the mysteries and probabilities of Biblical Greek morphology and
syntax.

The first two times you post, your message will not appear until a staff
member approves it. This helps us prevent spam on the list.

2. "Reply" function of mailing programs

The software used by the B-Greek list automatically formats replies to go
to the list. If you wish to respond directly and off-list to the sender of
a message, be careful to copy that person's e-address into the TO: line in
your reply message header. Please be careful in this regard; neglect of it
may result in an embarrassing distribution of what you meant to be a
private message to the whole list.

C. HOUSEKEEPING:

1. Subscribing:

You can subscribe to the list by sending a mail message to this address:

You will find there convenient automatic mail links that will send
"subscribe" or "unsubscribe" requests directly to the server at
franklin.oit.unc.edu.

D. Netiquette:

1. Respectful discourse: Those who participate in the conference
represent a wide range of theological and denominational perspectives,
perhaps even including some whose interests are purely academic. Deep
religious convictions surely characterize many, perhaps most, of the
list-participants, and some of these convictions bear directly upon how the
Biblical text is to be understood. At the core of our discussion, however,
is not what our convictions are but what the Greek text may legitimately be
understood to mean. If discussion of this nature is to succeed, proper
respect and courtesy to other list members is important. While scholarly
debate, including disagreement, is encouraged as a goal of this conference,
attacks upon the character, intelligence, or faith of those participating
are not acceptable. Criticism must focus upon the arguments of others; it
may not be directed to the individual. Those who violate this policy will
be contacted politely by the B-Greek staff and requested to conform to
these guidelines. Those who continue to violate the policy will no longer
be welcome in the conference.

2. It is considered to be in very poor taste to post to the list items
that have been sent off list. Before doing so always consult the author to
see if this is acceptable. Complaints from authors of messages that have
been posted to the list without their consent will be reviewed by the BG
Staff and appropriate action will be taken, if necessary.

3. No advertisements or job-postings are allowed without the approval
of the list-owner, Jonathan Robie <jwrobie@mindspring.com>. Please clear
your requests before posting. Those directly related to the subject matter
of B-GREEK will probably be approved.

4. Signatures: It is a courtesy expected of B-Greek subscribers that
messages should indicate, at least in the "From" header, the personal name
as well as the e-address, or else should at least sign their posts with
personal names. Indications of the locality from which they write would
help personalize further for others the sender of a message. Academic or
institutional information may be appended also, but there is no privilege
associated with any academic or institutional status so-indicated.

E. Transliteration Schemes:

TRANSLITERATING GREEK into ASCII

B-Greek has from the beginning allowed every poster to use
any scheme he/she found comfortable, since we all could usually
figure out what text was meant. For those who wish some
guidance, a generally accepted scheme has evolved on the List,
with two or three matters still not fully settled.

(1) CAPITALS are used when transliterating Greek letters, on a
one-to-one basis, reserving lower-case {i} to represent
iota-subscript and lower-case {h} to represent rough breathing.
No accents, no smooth breathings. And no distinction between
medial and final Sigma.

(2) If accents are really necessary, to distinguish otherwise
identical words, acute is represented by {/}, grave by {\}, and
circumflex either by tilde {~ [preferable]} or {=} -- always
AFTER the vowel over which it would be written.

(3) A few characters without Roman single-character form are
usually done with almost-look-alike Roman characters otherwise
unused:

Theta = Q
Eta = H
Psi = Y (upsilon is always U)
Omega = W

(4) Digraphs (in the usual Roman transliteration) are handled in
three different ways to avoid two-letter transliterations, all
involving otherwise-unused Roman letters:

(5) Xi and Chi: There being no single Roman letter for "Xi"
other than X, the "look-alike" use of X for "Chi" is confusing,
though some use it. And some seem to like to use C for "Sigma."
Since S is otherwise unused, and poses no confusion whatever,
using C for "Sigma" makes for problems in decoding back to Greek,
especially since it is the only letter available for "Chi"
(unless X is used, thus posing a problem for "Xi"). And
occasionally someone uses P for "Rho", making problems for how to
represent "Pi".

Here may be found the correspondence accumulated from list-members
since the inception of the list in 1992. There are gems here, and there is
also a search engine that will quickly enable you to find discussions on
a topic of interest to you, if in fact, that topic has at some point in the
history of the list also been of interest to others.
Carl W. Conrad
Co-Chair, B-Greek List
Department of Classics, Washington University
Summer: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/